Egypt: Day 8 - Valley of the Kings and Queens

Balloon Ride over the West Bank

We're up at 4.30 am, and get ready and leave for the balloon ride. Amr [one of the guys whom we paid the money to] comes to our hotel and picks us up, and drives down to the Nile's bank. There we join a boatload of other people - mostly retirees and one couple on their honeymoon. We gather it's the guy's third marriage. The two of us feel very young and very out of place on that boat. A complimentary tea / coffee follows, and amidst some chatter we reach the West Bank. Two vans await us there and we climb in and get introduced to the two 'pilots' who are brothers; later one of them will fly the balloon for us. Flying a balloon is apparently quite a science, and factors like wind speeds and directions play a role in deciding when and where to take off from, if we do indeed take off. We drive around for a while, and the pilots let off small helium balloons periodically and wait and watch as they ascend to the clouds. Finally, we stop at one place, and the brothers announce that we will take off around 6.30 am.

The support crew of 10 or so then swings into action while the pilots flirt with the grandmas among the 14 of us. They [the support crew] get the balloon and the basket off the truck and on the ground and start inflating the balloon. Meanwhile, as the balloon gets ready, the younger brother, who has announced himself to be our pilot, briefs us on safety matters and how to stand when the balloon lands. At long last, the balloon is inflated, we are briefed and we climb into the basket. Up and away! It's a trifle tight in the basket, but with the view I'm getting, it's not a concern. The ride lasts about 50 minutes, during which we hover over the Temple of Ramesses III and the Colossi of Memnon, and rise to a height of a few hundred feet. The basket is unexpectedly stable and the whole balloon is manoeuvrable in ways I couldn't have imagined.

But all good things come to an end, and after an exhilarating hour, we are down again. The final segment of the 'ride' is a silly, but hilarious and entertaining song and dance routine performed by the crew. After another round of 'shay' [tea], we all get complimentary t-shirts and a papyrus certificate declaring that we did the balloon ride in Luxor. I'm blessed that my name is relatively easy to spell, and is printed pretty ok on the certificate. Satya's on the other hand is mauled.

Time is running short as we have our West Bank tour scheduled in the morning, so we rush back to the hotel, have a spot of breakfast, and join the waiting tour bus outside. There are about 30 of us in a minibus as we drive the long drive down to the new bridge over the Nile, cross the river and get to the West Bank. Deja view.

Valley of the Kings and Queens

The West Bank is divided into a few Valleys, most notable of which are KV [Valley of the Kings], QV [V. of the Queens], NV [V. of the Noblemen] and WV [V. of the Workers]. Each of the valleys is littered with tombs, built up over centuries. Apparently, there are no records of the locations of the tombs, and while building the tombs, it was quite common to cut into older tombs. At this point, the builders would then tangent off and continue in another direction or downwards. There is currently a large scale project on called the Theban Mapping Project [Thebes was the ancient name of Luxor]. This project has recently unearthed the largest tomb to be discovered so far - that of the sons of Ramesses II. We start off at QV, and visit the tombs of Queen Titi and her son [QV, despite its name, includes the tombs of Princes and Princesses too]. Nearby is the tomb of Neferteri, which is supposed to be the most beautiful tomb of all. We don't get an opportunity to go inside, as only 150 people are allowed in everyday, and the LE 100 tickets are sold out by 6.30 am. After that we visit KV, and enter the tombs of Ramesses IX, Amenophis IV and Seti II [the latter was a son of Ramesses II]. There were a few reasons for the selection of this area for the necropolis - it was away from the Nile [and therefore safe from flooding] and on high ground, the geology of the place meant that the tombs could be hidden quite easily from tomb robbers, and the fact that there was a pyramid-shaped peak nearby.

After KV and QV, we drive over to the Temple of Hatshepsut, the only female Pharaoh in ancient Egypt. The temple was built for her by her lover, a very famous architect called Senenmut, and was partially destroyed earlier this century as a result of an earthquake; it was later reconstructed. Finally we proceed to the Colossi of Memnon - 2 colossal statues that tower over the villages below. One of the two statues had a cavity in the centre and the wind used to make a moaning sound when it blew across the statues. To the Greeks who occupied Egypt, it sounded like a mythological character who cried upon the death of her son Memnon. The statues have been patched, but the name remains.

We meet an interesting chap on this trip, a Brit movie set designer who had worked on the original Star Wars trilogy. This chap's wife is Iranian, and he was one of the hostages in the '79 Iranian hostage crisis. He was released when it was discovered that his wife was Iranian. These days, every time his wife visits Iran, he visits Egypt, and studies heiroglyphics.

Return to Luxor city and have a late lunch at one of the small restaurants near the hotel, and go to the station to buy our tickets to Edfu the following morning. "Buy tickets on train! Buy tickets on train!", so we walk back to the hotel. Who should we meet on the way, but our trusty and overly affectionate limpet Mohammed. He urges us to join him for a tea. We relent, and after the tea and some small talk, we get back to the Sherif hotel, and decide to retire for the day. After all, it has been a terribly exciting and strenuous day today, and we have to wake up early - got a train to catch.